President sees discussion about coalition split as ruling bloc’s mistake

“The responsibility falls upon all parties, all leaders in the ruling majority, both the Social Democrats and the Farmers and Greens. The disputes are indeed becoming what I would call unattractive. Sooner or later the nation will demand a result and responsibility. They should not wait for people’s patience to end. The ruling majority has all the potential to take decisions and launch reforms. Any discussions about undermining or division of the coalition would be a political mistake of the ruling bloc. They should definitely not make it,” the president told the national radio LRT.

In her words, the biggest responsibility for neutralization for any conflicts that may emerge fall upon Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, Parliamentary Speaker Viktoras Pranckietis and Ramūnas Karbauskis, the leader of the political group of the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.

Earlier this week, tensions between Skvernelis and the LFGU political group heightened. The prime minister said he did not know whether the planned reforms were even possible amid opposition from the LFGU group that delegated, while Karbauskis maintains that the head of the government was too emotional. Public disputes have been observed in connection to the higher education reform planned by the government and on specific actions to curb emigration.